Two anti-tank mines killed eight people instantly and ser­ious­ly injured another in Ban­teay Meanchey province’s Malai district on Friday, in the second such explosion this year, officials confirmed yesterday.

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A mangled tractor and trailer was all that remained after two anti-tank mines killed eight people on Friday in Banteay Meanchey.

Seam Hak, deputy manager of the Cambodian Mine Action Center’s demining unit, said the victims, who were farmers, were driving a motorised trailer on an unmarked road in O’Sampoar commune when they struck the anti-tank mine.

“Their bodies were cut into pieces and dispersed over a 50-metre radius,” Seam Hak said.

The road they were traveling on was 150 metres away from a mine-free road, he added.

The eight people killed included six women, ranging in age from 14 to 49, and two men, aged 15 and 45.

The sole survivor, 19-year-old Khem Kamsot, is now being treated at Mongkol Borei hospital.

The accident site is a former battle zone of the Khmer Rouge, densely populated with mines, Chan Kosal, the Banteay Mean­chey deputy police chief, said.

In recent years, he added, villagers have increasingly strayed from marked, mine-free roads in order to reach their cassava plantations. He urged villagers not to use new roads.